Pangea Software has released Otto Matic 2.0, an update to the company’s popular third-person shooter inspired by 50’s science fiction B movies. What’s more, the company has noted that a new version of Bugdom 2 will soon be released. Both new updates gain stereoscopic 3D support, like Pangea’s recently released game Nanosaur 2: Hatchling.
The news that Bugdom 2 and Otto Matic would get the 3D glasses treatment first came to light on Wednesday night, when Pangea Software President Brian Greenstone was a featured guest on Your Mac Life, the QuickTime radio Webcast. Greenstone noted that the Otto Matic update would be released by the end of the week.
Pangea also noted that Nanosaur 2 is now shipping on CD. Up until now, the only way to get the game has been to download a large demo version and to pay for a registration code. The CD-ROM-based version costs a bit more than the download does, but it includes two sets of red/cyan 3D anaglyph glasses, similar to the ones often used in 3D movies.
Nanosaur 2, the sequel to Pangea’s 1998 hit action game, puts you in control of a futuristic pterodactyl armed to the beak with weapons and defensive measures, sent back in time to the age of the dinosaurs to recover eggs. The game features three single-player stages and a variety of two-player “hot seat” gaming modes that lets gamers go at it head-to-head on the same Mac.
Like all of Pangea’s games for the past several years, Nanosaur 2 is a 3D game that leverages OpenGL technology. But Pangea took it a step further with this game by employing optional support for stereoscopic 3D graphics that seem to burst out of the screen. Most gamers will be able to experience the effect using red/cyan glasses, but some with more expensive and sophisticated 3D LCD shutter glasses — once available for about $100 but now typically restricted to 3D CAD and scientific research — can get the same effect too.
Pangea Software’s Greenstone liked the red/cyan analglyph 3D effect so much he decided to retrofit it to games that have already been out for a while. And Otto Matic was a natural first match, according to the developer.
“Since Otto Matic is a game all about 1950’s sci-fi B-movies, it only made sense that we put the 3D glasses support into that game first,” he said.
The 2.0 update is free to download from Pangea’s Web site, and can be used by anyone who has the game currently installed on their Macs. Otto Matic was published commercially by Aspyr Media, and was also bundled on some consumer Mac models, and is now available for electronic purchase directly from Pangea, or as part of the Pangea Super Pack, a CD compendium of Pangea’s greatest hits.
Pangea anticipates releasing the Bugdom 2 v2.0 update in “about a week,” and it will likewise be a free upgrade for existing users. Bugdom 2 was the sequel to Pangea’s highly successful game 3D action game Bugdom; both titles put you in a world of insects and other creatures.
The games will work with the same red/cyan 3D glasses used by Nanosaur 2. If you haven’t already ordered the game or if you don’t have a pair from some other purpose, you can also buy them direct from the manufacturer Pangea used for the glasses it includes with the boxed version of Nanosaur 2.
Austin, Texas-based Pangea Software develops games exclusively for the Macintosh.